The Pokémon franchise is commemorating its 25th anniversary this year; While Pokémon Red and Blue, the first games released in the US, came out stateside in 1998, the original Japanese games, Red and Green, were released in 1996. Anyway, part of the celebration has included collaborating with Post Malone on a couple things. Malone is performing a virtual concert for Pokémon Day this weekend, but ahead of that, he has released a new cover tied to the partnership: a rendition of the Hootie And The Blowfish classic “Only Wanna Be With You.”
Malone keeps the cover mostly stylistically faithful to the original version, and even though the song doesn’t have any clear preexisting connection to Pokémon, Malone has turned in a fun recording nonetheless. He slightly tweaked the lyrics, shifting the focus of one line from the Miami Dolphins to his favorite NFL team, the Dallas Cowboys, as he sings, “I’m such a baby ’cause the Cowboys make me cry.” Longtime Pokémon fans may have also noticed that the song has a sample from the second-generation Game Boy/Game Boy Color games Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, specifically the music that plays in Ecruteak City.
Darius Rucker, who of course sang and co-wrote the ’90s classic, is over the moon about Malone’s rendition, tweeting of it this morning, “The smile in my face will not leave for a long time. This is awesome. My bro @PostMalone bringing it. Hell yes man!!!!!!!!!”
The smile in my face will not leave for a long time. This is awesome. My bro @PostMalone bringing it. Hell yes man!!!!!!!!! https://t.co/DPiNzxmwyu
— Darius Rucker (@dariusrucker) February 25, 2021
Listen to Malone’s rendition of “Only Wanna Be With You” above.